Will the lights ever come back on at a £1m piece of public art?

It was to be the near £1m piece of public art symbolising Londonderry's transition from a city of conflict to a capital of culture.
Mute Meadow, a series of illuminated steel columns on the banks of the Foyle, was unveiled in 2011.
But since the lights went out more than a decade ago, its pillars have been left to gather rust.
Now, its artists are calling for it to be repaired, restored and reinstated "for the people of the city".
Vong Phaophanit, a Turner prize nominee and his co-creator, Claire Oboussier told BBC News NI it is "regrettable that no action has been taken" in the years since the lights went out.
Derry City and Strabane District Council, which manages the artwork, said design work for the repair has been completed.
Work is now underway to identify the required budget, the council added.
That cost has not been made public.
The Executive Office, owners of the Ebrington site on which it stands, "will consider a contribution" when it is made aware of the cost.
Sitting at the Ebrington end of the city's Peace Bridge, Mute Meadow consists of 40 angled steel columns.
The intention was that the steel pillars would be illuminated by LED projectors and lit up in the colours of the stain glass windows of the city's Guildhall.
It was designed to create a "vast field of light" across the River Foyle.
Costing £800,000, and funded by Stormont, then Arts Minister Gregory Campbell said it would "place arts and culture at the centre of the city's regeneration".
Maurice Devenney, Derry's then mayor, said then that it "reflects positively how the city is moving forward" as it prepared for its year as UK City of Culture.
It was at the time, the largest piece of public art on the island of Ireland.
But right from the off it was dogged by problems.
Within months of being switched on, the lights went out due to issues associated with the fabrication of the work.
It was fixed temporarily but by 2014, the lights had gone again.
Mute Meadow has by and large, remained in the dark ever since.
It is now more like "an unfinished building site" than a million pound artwork, SDLP councillor Rory Farrell told BBC News NI.
"People don't know what it's meant to be, it is an eyesore," he said.
At a time when budgets are tight and a number of local groups have lost out on core funding, Farrell said he understands the repair work may not be everyone's priority.
"But I for one want to see this operational, it would add to out cultural offering and transform the landscape along the river," he said.
The hundreds of people to cross the city's Peace bridge daily pass just yards from Mute Meadows' metal pillars.
Mark Froydenlund told BBC Radio Foyle he knows the nearby steel pillars are "some kind of sculpture".
The cost seems "expensive" given it doesn't work, he said, adding "they should get it working".
Maurice Hudson and Deirdre Watson from Belfast are staying in a hotel just a few hundred yards from Mute Meadow.
Neither "had a clue" the artwork existed or what the steel columns are for.
Maurice said there are other priorities "like the state of our national health service." Deirdre agreed, adding money could be spent "a better way, for things like housing".
But Maurice added, when a lot of money has already been spent, the lights should be on.
"With the people of Derry/Londonderry not having to pay for the electric," Deirdre added.
Billy Quigley tells the BBC he has "no idea" the steel beams at the end of the Peace bridge were intended to be a work of art.
"That is wasted money," he said, adding the money spent thus far could "have gone to better causes".
In a statement, Phaophanit and Oboussier said there seemed to have been a lack of care around their artwork.
The artists hope that "proactive action" is taken to repair the piece and reinstate it for the city.
Mute Meadow, the artists said, was "one of our most challenging and meaningful pieces of work to realise".
"Our hope and intention was that it would make an enduring contribution to the Derry cityscape - a positive and peaceful space where people could gather, somewhere where Derry citizens could continue to develop a sense of collective belonging for years to come."
The artists said they remain committed to help in any way they can.
The council said a concept design has been completed to restore the artwork's lighting.
"Council is currently working to identify adequate budget to deliver the works," a spokeswoman said.
The cost of those works is due to be presented to councillors in the coming months.
"Council will also continue to work with The Executive Office to find a lasting solution for the long-term future of the artwork."
The Executive Office (TEO) said it is also supportive of the work needed to repair it.
"We understand a concept design exists for relighting the artwork and a cost estimate has been compiled. On receipt of costs from council we will consider a contribution," a TEO spokesperson said.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

CNN

2 days ago

• CNN

This artist just spray painted a public square in Switzerland

Thousands of artists are being featured at hundreds of galleries as Art Basel opens its doors in the Swiss city this week. But before visitors even enter the art fair, they will cross a large public square sprayed with white and magenta paint — an artwork by Katharina Grosse. The German artist is known for using spray paint to transform spaces, from an abandoned property in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans to a condemned structure in the Rockaways, New York. Her massive, in-situ paintings have been commissioned by contemporary art museums like MoMA PS1 in New York and the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Paris. In Basel, her work covers the Messeplatz, and the structures — from a fountain to benches and bins — it contains. 'Even the clock will get painted a little bit,' she told CNN in early June, before she started painting, referring to the huge timepiece on the facade of one of the exhibition halls. That required some logistical preparation, like emptying the fountain and covering it with an anti-graffiti coating so the paint can be washed away later, explained Natalia Grabowska, of the Serpentine Gallery in London, who curated the work. The square measures several thousand square meters, or about the size of a soccer field, said Grabowska. She added that Grosse is someone who can 'work at scale and really transform spaces.' Grosse says that the sheer size of the work, her largest to date in an outdoor setting, was a challenge for her. 'For me, it's an amazing possibility to develop my work further and test my thinking and painting,' she said. Although the artist created models of the work beforehand, she said that things always change on site as she responds to the situation on the ground. 'I have a lot of different surfaces. I have distances to bridge. I have to make it work and be vivid but coherent,' she said. The fact that her 'whole painting has to be invented on site' means that it might be 'the youngest work at the fair,' Grosse added. That made it particularly interesting to watch her paint, said Grabowska. 'She works very intuitively with her body and sees where it takes her,' she said. 'She walks back and forth — it is a bit like unscripted choreography, a bit of a dance.' Grosse's work might also be the shortest lived at the fair. After seven days, the paint will be peeled and pressure-washed away. 'I think it's the shortest lifespan of a piece I've done outdoors,' said Grosse. 'There's a beauty that it appears for a minute, and it's only in your memories and the pictures we've taken and the way we talk about it.' Still, she hopes that for a few days, it can help transport visitors. 'It's almost like a poetic space that's slipped under your familiar existence,' she said. 'Her work is so powerful that you get immersed in it instantly,' said Grabowska. 'You can't ignore it.' Grosse also hopes that her work will help people reconsider what forms painting can take, as they enter one of the world's most important art fairs. It 'doesn't have to be like a pancake on a wall,' she said.

Yahoo

2 days ago

• Yahoo

Belfast City Women's 10K 2025 official results LIVE

On Sunday 22nd June thousands of runners and walkers will be gathering at the Titanic Quarter to participate in the Moy Park Belfast City Women's 10K. Whether you're a seasoned runner or a first-time participant, the Moy Park Belfast City Women's 10K promises to be a memorable event, celebrating fitness amongst a community of strong and supportive women. Advertisement Participants and supporters can access live results and verified times and also track runners progress in real-time during the race by entering the details in the results tracker below. READ MORE: Rory McIlroy says he feels like he's living two different lives with Erica Stoll and golf READ MORE: Rory McIlroy and Erica Stoll's huge decision on future was leaked by US Open winner Should you have any queries in relation to results, please contact Results@ Belfast Live are the proud official digital media partner for the Moy Park Belfast City Women's 10K. A massive well done to everyone who has taken part! For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

Forbes

3 days ago

• Forbes

‘How To Train Your Dragon's Nick Frost Gives Us Food For Thought

Whether it is the projects he picks or the meals he eats, How to Train Your Dragon's foodie actor Nick Frost is full and sated. Similarly, audiences are devouring the live-action remake. Debuting in theaters at the top of the box office and exceeding expectations, it has grossed $83.7 million domestically, the best domestic opening weekend for the franchise. Additionally, it grossed $197.8 million globally, making it one of the best openings of 2025 so far. Based on the 2010 animated film that launched a lucrative franchise, How to Train Your Dragon takes place on the Viking island of Berk, where an ancient threat endangers both the human inhabitants and the dragons alike. However, an unlikely friendship between Hiccup, the son of Gerard Butler's Viking leader, and Toothless, a Night Fury dragon, proves to be the key to both species creating a new future together. Shaun of the Dead's Frost plays veteran warrior Gobber, a character originally voiced by Craig Ferguson. So, who inspired his take? "Ray Winstone," he reveals without hesitation as we chat in a Beverly Hills hotel. Winstone is best known for his iconic performances in films such as Sexy Beast, The Departed, and Nil by Mouth. "When I was doing his voice at home to prep for the film, I was like, 'It sounds a bit like Ray.' I'm absolutely channeling my inner Ray." 'That is also the name of my new book, The Inner Ray," Frost jokes. How to Train Your Dragon was filmed in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While there, the Hot Fuzz actor saw it as an opportunity to make the most of the food scene, which led him and the film's cast to discover a spot that he believes serves "the best pizza in the world." "You're going to love this," he laughs. "There is a guy called Peter Thompson, and he runs a pizza place in Belfast called Flout. He had a job in marketing and then this thing happened to him, which was awful, and it made him reevaluate his life." "He went from never making pizza at all to making arguably the best pizza in the world, and he did it in five years. He's like the Yoda of pizza dough. He had never cooked before. We were in contact with each other on Instagram, and he said, 'Come down and try the pizza,' and it was fantastic." Frost freely shares his love of food and cooking on social media and has spent years improving his relationship with food. He knows what he likes, and he knows what he's talking about. So, has the gastronome ever been offered a foodie TV show? He's come close. "People brought me some after my cookery book came out, and we are at a point where we signed some kind of deal, but then other stuff happened," he laments. "It goes pretty way down your pecking order once you're going to be Hagrid until you're 63, so maybe cooking can come after that." Frost is referring to his casting as Rubeus Hagrid in HBO's Harry Potter television series. When How to Train Your Dragon came his way, Frost wasn't that up to speed with the series of animated films. Although he's a father, his oldest was "kind of at the tail end of it." However, he was drawn to the project because of his ongoing love of movies and animation, which goes back to the days when he shared an apartment, or flat as Brits call them, with friend and collaborator Simon Pegg in North London. He would have loved How to Train Your Dragon even back then. "Me and Simon and our flatmates were all massive animation fans, so as soon as anything anime was released, we were watching it," the actor recalls. "We were all also sci-fi and fantasy geeks, so all we asked was, 'Is it animated? Does it have dragons in it or a spaceship? Yes. Two out of three ain't bad.' What this film is going to do, though, is it already has that audience, and then it will just ignite a whole other bunch of people, which is great. It deserves to be seen. I never saw the originals in the cinema, so when I saw this, it was like, 'Wow, that was fantastic.'" Another thing that appealed to Frost was the fact that writer-director Dean DeBlois was willing to let him do his own thing with Gobber. "I went for a meeting with Dean, and he's lovely. He was like, 'Do whatever. Come and have a laugh,'" he recalls. "What I have thought about a lot this week is that I'm so lucky to have worked as long as I have, but also what it does is it enables you to is to listen to the little voice that sometimes says, 'Hey, could I try this?' One would have been forgiven for thinking that Dean would say, 'Do this because it works.' I would have been fine with that and just do it because what Craig did was great anyway, but Dean wanted us to have a play and bring whatever we wanted. Once you realize what's possible, saying yes to the job becomes a no-brainer." Frost admits that the reality of Gobber wasn't always fun and games. The heavy costuming and the character's trademark facial hair were challenges. "They were heavy," he admits. "I'm very lucky in as much as I kind of have a jerkin then a big furry thing on top, and that was kind of it for me. Gerard got it in the neck. His stuff must have weighed 50 kg. It was nuts. My problem was my mustache. That was my bugbear. I hated it." "I hated the process of getting it on. I was very respectful for the first six weeks or so, going back at the end of the shoot day and letting the makeup team take it off gently. After that, it got to a point about four weeks before we finished, where as soon as they wrapped me, I would pull it off, which is very unprofessional, but as I was walking back to the car, I'd yank it off and hand it to my beard lady and say, 'Thank you.' The next day, it would be ready to go again." However, he has nothing but respect for the craftspeople who made the magic of How to Train Your Dragon come alive. "Stuff like that is fascinating to hear about and beautiful to see. We're in the film, we're the actors, and sometimes we're on posters and in the trailers, so it's easy to look at what we do, but when you look at what the puppeteers did, you'll see their names in the credits, but you won't know who they are and you won't see the work they did," Frost enthuses. "To see those guys turn up every day in their green leotards, holding their huge dragon heads, it's a lot of work they put in. I've noticed that with many different departments, they do these little things that people may not notice, but as an actor, you do notice it 100 percent. For me, that is a dragon. I can't see the people in it. I can't see them controlling it. I don't notice the blue screen. It comes down to you and me, and Dean and Bill Pope, the DOP, and that's what it is. If you start thinking about the big picture and that 300 people are watching me acting, it's nerve-racking." Something that continues to impress Frost is the enduring legacy and depth of love for the How to Train Your Dragon universe, as well as its deep influence on pop culture. A prime example is the creation of a world at the Universal Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida. How does he feel about a world he's now a part of being immortalized that way? "It happens all the time," he jokes. "There was Shaun of the Dead World, but then kids got killed so that shut it. Then they had the Hot Fuzz Land, and again, children died. The World's End Place is still open, but it rains a lot, so the weather's kind of shit." "I'm connected to three already now when you think of it. I'm SM-33 in Star Wars, and that has theme park attractions. There are also the Hogwarts and Harry Potter ones, so my Hagrid has to get in there eventually. When I started out 23 years ago, it's what I wanted to happen to me,' the How to Train Your Dragon actor laughs. "Basically, I just wanted to be a part of theme park ride culture."